Softer Side
by momoxtoshiro
Summary: Megumi gets sick the day she is supposed to go out with Yahiro, Jun and Sakura and is forced to stay home. Will she have to get better all by herself? Fluffiness and possible OOC-ness but enjoy! :D


**I've wrote a fanfic for Kei and Hikari as soon as I finished the SA manga and started this as well but only just recently got around to finishing it. I simply love Megumi and Yahiro for some reason and I love writing fluff so you'll have to excuse the OOC-ness :3**

**Disclaimer: I do not own SA!**

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><p>Softer Side<p>

Jun slipped on his shoes as he glanced at the clock.

_Crap! We're gonna be late to the double date!_ He cried in his mind.

The week before, Sakura had timidly proposed the idea of a double date between Jun and herself as well as Megumi and Yahiro. Jun smiled slightly at the thought of seeing Sakura today but quickly shook himself out of it as he glared at the clock again.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he raced down the stairs, expecting to see his sister already waiting for him at the front door and prepared to leave. But he was shocked to find that she was not there when he arrived. _Is she in the bathroom?_ He wondered. He called out to her but received no response. "There's no way she slept in! She never sleeps in!" he mumbled to himself as he dashed back up the stairs. He rushed to his sister's room and called out again.

"Megumi?" he knocked on the door but got no response. "Are you still in bed?" he turned the doorknob to find it unlocked and slowly stepped into her room. He looked around, expecting to find her just finishing changing clothes, but instead he found her curled up on her bed, her back facing him. "Megumi!" he complained. "I told you we needed to be there by noon! Why didn't you set an alarm?" he stalked over to her bed where she lie in her long, pink, ruffled nightgown.

But just as the words were out of his mouth, he noticed the alarm clock on her bedside table as it went off beeping. He expected her to roll over and turn it off, but she did not stir in the slightest.

A spark of panic shot through the dusky-blonde boy and he peered down at his older sister; she looked so much smaller than usual now, curled up amongst her blankets like that. He turned off her blaring alarm before getting closer to her bed. "Hey, Megumi…" he tentatively reached down and shook her skinny shoulder. He expected her to groan at him or something along those lines, but she did not make a sound.

Worry shot through him again as he gently rolled her onto her back to get a good look at her face. He frowned in dismay as he saw that her face was flushed red and a cold sweat beaded her forehead. Her cheeks and eyes were puffy as though she had been crying all night and her chest heaved with effort as she tried to breathe. "Megumi!" he cried again. "H-Hey! Megumi, wake up!" he pleaded.

To his relief, his sister seemed to awaken from his words and her eyes blinked slowly open to shift into focus on her brother. She smiled weakly as she slowly pushed herself up and reached off the side of her bed to pick up her sketchpad. He watched with concern in his eyes as she wrote with trembling fingers; _Sorry. I don't think I'll be going today. I think I got sick last night. Tell Yahiro I'm sorry._

"Megumi…" he sighed. "I'll stay home and-" but before he could even finish she had already written her response. _No. You go see Sakura. I'll be okay. Promise._

Jun looked helplessly at his older sister and she smiled; even though it was obviously forced she did a good job at hiding it. She had always been the sensible one who put others before herself and even after all this time she had not changed in the slightest.

"Are you sure? I'll tell the maids to call a doctor." He made his way for the door but she grasped his sleeve before he could get too far away. _No. I don't want that. Just let me sleep and I'll be fine_.

Jun perused her over; her hair was disheveled and her face was still red, but the sincerity in her eyes and smile was enough to convince him that she was telling him the truth. After a long moment of contemplation, he let out a sigh.

"Alright. If that's what you want." He nodded. "But just promise me you'll get some sleep and be better by the time I get home."

_I'll do my best!_ She wrote, giving him her brightest smile.

"Okay then. See you later." He slowly walked across her room, glanced back over his shoulder one last time, and then disappeared into the hallway.

Once Megumi was sure that he was no longer within earshot, she let loose the itching sensation nagging at her throat and began coughing roughly.

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><p>Throughout the course of the day, Megumi could never seem to find a decent time to catch hold of some sleep.<p>

Every time she laid down and closed her eyes, almost immediately afterward, knocks would come pounding on her door as fretting maids and butlers attempted to tend to her illness. They all brought various dishes and medicines they believed would help her, but she turned them all down due to sheer annoyance. _All I want is to sleep!_ She wailed in her mind. She wrote this one her sketchpad and left it out for them all to see, yet her writing never deterred them from asking, so she felt it necessary to add, _And no, I do _not_ need a doctor_.

After at least two hours of such hectic chaos, Megumi finally believed she would be able to get some sleep so that she may finally begin to recover on her own. She had finally persuaded all her servants that she was fine and got them to leave her alone and presently the door to her room remained closed and undisturbed.

She sighed with a bit of relief as she thought she might finally get some peace and quiet as she rested her head on her pillow and pulled the blankets up over her shoulders. Her eyes had just blinked shut when her cell phone went off, screeching insanely loudly, like a bat out of Hell that had intruded upon the heaven of her mattress.

She coughed as her arm stretched wearily out and she sharply flung open her phone to glare at the screen. It was a text message from her brother that read: _Are you feeling better? _ Megumi sighed as she forced her fingers to move over the keys and compose a reply. _Yes. I'm just trying to sleep._ She was about to send the message when she thought over whether or not she should add something more. After a moment of debating in her mind, she decided to add on: _How's Yahiro?_

She waited in an uneasy silence for the response, the only sound being her slightly wheezing breath. She seemed to wait for the longest moment in existence for the reply and she briefly wondered why she was so impatient until her phone vibrated again. _He came but I told him you were sick so he went home._

A small smile crossed Megumi's lips. _Good._ She thought_. At least he's not sick too_. But then her smile turned into a frown and she sighed. _But I really wish I could have seen him today…_

After responding to her brother with _Okay, thanks. Have fun with Sakura,_ she closed her phone and flopped back down onto her pillow.

Time seemed to pass extremely slower than usual just because she was sick. Any ounce of ability to fall asleep that still resided within her body had now vanished, and no matter how she twisted and turned onto every angle on her bed, she could not fall asleep. Rolling onto her back, she sighed raggedly as her eyes flickered up to the ceiling and she blinked several times.

She thought of getting up and doing something productive like cleaning up her room a bit or something along those lines, but her body felt too meek to move. Her jaws parted in a yawn as she listened to the ruckus the butlers were causing downstairs about what to do about their sick mistress. But something hitched slightly in her throat as she swallowed oddly and she coughed once which soon led to another bout of it.

Rolling onto her side, Megumi coughed over the side of her bed, her body suddenly feeling hot and uncomfortable; her long, thick hair stuck to her pajamas and seemed to weigh her down.

She continued to cough, and her throat was starting to hurt now, for no matter how hard she tried to quiet her voice, her body's natural reaction overrode what her mind wanted her to do. Her chestnut eyes squeezed tightly shut as she tried to push herself up so that she could clear out her airway, but her body was shaking too violently to move properly.

_Oh no...This is really bad. None of the maids are up here right now and I can't call out to them.._.She thought, panic stabbing her chest; though being fretted over was one of the last things she wanted right now, dying was the _very_ last.

She was not aware of the rapid, thudding footsteps that traced the way up to her room until her door slammed open and she heard her name being exclaimed. She thought she recognized the voice but could not register anything as she continued to cough. There was another presence in the room, right beside her within a matter of seconds and she felt a gentle hand on her back. _J...Jun..._She wanted to say in relief, but could only manage to think it.

She felt two strong arms grab her shoulders and support her, sitting her up straight so that it was easier to breathe. His hand patted her back firmly as she gagged on air, until at last, she began to calm down. Megumi gripped her shirt tightly with her fingers curled until her knuckles were white, but soon began to relax her grasp as the pain in her chest began to die away.

Gasping, she slowly re-opened her eyes and looked down at her legs curled beneath her body and the ruffled sheets of her bed scattered around her. A warm hand continued to trace soothing circles between her stiff shoulder blades until she relaxed.

Raising her head, she was about to muster a small smile of thanks to her brother when her eyes focused and she realized it was not her brother at all who had come to her rescue. Yahiro's concerned brown eyes looked directly down into hers and her breath caught as she realized just who her visitor was.

"Ya...Yahiro..." She wheezed, her voice cracking and hardly making any sound at all.

"Idiot!" He snapped and she flinched slightly. Then he sighed, angry with himself for being so harsh with her. He continued rubbing her back soothingly, his palm gliding over her soft, curly hair. "Don't try to talk right now." He mumbled as he blinked at her apologetically. "Are you okay?" He asked. Megumi panted several more times before nodding slowly, then giving him a tiny, exhausted smile. "Good." He patted her back lightly a few more times before ruffling her hair.

As though reading her mind, he picked up her erasable sketchpad and marker and placed it in her lap. She nodded her thanks and scribbled down: _Why are you here? Jun said you went home._

"Oh please." He scoffed. "You think I'd go back home after hearing my girlfriend was so sick she could hardly move?"

Megumi's eyes opened wide at the word 'girlfriend' but after a quick moment of pondering, she realized that that was what she truthfully was to him. Bashfully, she bowed her head, trying to hid her blush. Her eyes flickered back to him as she saw him rummaging through his pockets and blinked questioningly as he presented a small bottle to her. "I didn't go home." He told her. "I went out and bought the best, most effective medicine I knew of." He paused. "But...when I came here and asked to see you, they said you were sick, but when I insisted, they just told me to be brief in visiting you. And then when I came up here...I heard you coughing like that..." His tone was laced with concern and worry. "I was really scared, especially when I came in to see you like that."

Megumi's heart began to race as she listened to his words, halfway flattered and halfway resentful for making him feel so worried. She wrote _I'm sorry_ on her board, but he shook his head and smiled at her; this was the softer side of Yahiro that probably no one else in the world knew about, and Megumi felt privileged for being able to see it as often as she did.

She tugged on his sleeve and he looked down at what she had written: _I'm okay now. Thanks to you._ He blinked in surprise and she smiled. It took him a moment, but he soon reflected her grin.

"I'll go get you a glass of water for the medicine." He announced, running a lock of her long, pale hair through his fingers as he backed toward the door. She nodded as she watched him go, disappearing down the hallway at a quick pace.

Megumi let her shoulders slump a bit now that he was gone, but nonetheless she was still delightfully surprised that Yahiro had been the one to find her, rather than her brother or someone else. She placed her erase-board on the ground before fixing her bed as best she could before sliding her body back underneath the covers. Yahiro re-entered then with a glass that he placed on her bedside table as he helped her sit back against the head board of the bed, fluffing her pillow for her.

"This should be fast-acting in terms of healing your cough, but it'll also make you sleepy. But as soon as you wake up you should be all better." He informed her. He sat down on the edge of her bed, taking the medicine bottle and splashed a few drops into the water before handing it to her.

Taking the glass from him, Megumi sipped at it tentatively until she had drained it and put it back down. She wrinkled her nose at the bitter aftertaste, causing Yahiro to chuckle. Megumi pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. Yahiro reached forward and ran his fingers through her tresses, making her jump slightly before she realized how heavenly it felt; the small tug on her hair, the ticklish brushing of his fingers against her arm...

"Are you feeling any better?" He wondered. "Does your throat hurt?" Megumi first nodded her head and then shook it from side to side. "Good." The boy said, relieved. A sudden wave of fatigue came over Megumi then, and she wanted to write her thanks out to him, but was too dizzy to reach for the pad.

"Ya...Yahiro..." She murmured.

"Shh. Didn't I tell you not to speak?"

"But...I want to." She protested meekly. There was no way he could refuse her after the adorable tone she had used. He sighed in agreement. "I'll only talk to you, Yahiro." She smiled; it was compensation for him since he only showed his softer side to her alone.

"A-Alright." He gave in, reaching his arm forward to support her back when she slumped slightly. He held her small body as he gradually helped her slide and lie down on her back. Her eyes fluttered as she beamed up at him with a tiny smile.

Yahiro continued sliding his fingers through her hair tenderly, so softly that Megumi felt she could have easily fallen asleep from such motions even if she was in her most attentive state.

"Thank you...for coming to see me today." She whispered.

"Of course I'd come see you, idiot." He placed one hand lightly on her shoulder and leaned over her for a brief second and kissed her forehead. "Get better."

"Okay. I promise." She began drifting off into slumber, her eyes closing on his handsome, smiling face. "Love you..." She breathed.

"I love you, Megumi." He murmured with a smile.

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><p><strong>AN: Again, sorry for the OOC-ness but you'll have to forgive me. I very much enjoyed writing this. They're just too precious.  
><strong>

**Please review! **


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